Fake Democrat PAC sends Fake News to Howell Voters

The reelection campaign of Howell Mayor Theresa Berger was kicked off last week with a fake newspaper filled with fake news and paid for and mailed to Howell voters by a Fake Democrat political action committee.

The Howell Tribune, a political hit piece filled with false and misleading content, claims that Berger blocked a proposed dump in the township and that Republican council members are behind the increase in residential development.

The truth is that Monmouth County’s Republican Freeholders stopped the approval of a transfer station—it was never a “dump”– in the township in response to a public outcry and at the behest of Lawrence Hesse, a prominent Ocean County Republican, who owns the Ocean County Landfill, a private entity, and other businesses in the garbage and recycling industry.

New Jersey’s increase in residential real estate development is driven by the liberal State Supreme Court’s affordable housing rules which resulted from the Mount Laurel Doctrine which grew out of litigation by Fair Share Housing, which is ongoing. Monmouth and Ocean County Democrats have been blaming Republicans for State mandated affordable housing development for years, with varying degrees of success. It worked in getting Berger elected in Howell four years ago, so she’s trying it again.

Berger, appointed a proxy to her seat on the Township Planning Board, in a politically calculated move to give her cover in the mandated affordable housing zoning changes. She, and her Democrat colleague on the Township Council voted no on the zoning ordinance in a cynical political move. Her proxy voted in favor of the zoning changes at the planning board.

Admittedly, it is complicated. The Democrats have been demagoguing the issue in Howell, Ocean Township, Jackson and Toms River for years. It is a clever scam….State Democrats mandate that suburban and rural areas be developed and local Democrats blame Republicans for “approving” the new developments as part of legal settlements rather than abdicate all of their zoning power to the Courts.

The fake newspaper was paid for by the NJ Residents for Good Government, 21 Sea Point Dr, Pt Pleasant, according to the fine print disclosure on the last page.

Neither the NJ Residents for Good Government, NJ Residents for Good Government, nor New Jersey Residents for Good Government is registered with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC). It is a fake PAC that the Berger campaign is using to avoid the disclosure and spending limits of NJ’s campaign finance laws.

Monmouth and Ocean County Democrats have used this fake PAC tactic before. In 2019 they used fake PACs to finance municipal campaigns in Ocean Township and Toms River.

21 Sea Point Dr, Pt Pleasant, is the home of Edwin Wolff, the Democrat Chairman of Pt Pleasant who ran unsuccessfully for Pt Pleasant Boro Council in 2014 and for Ocean County Freeholder in 2016.

Wolff has not yet responded to a voice mail asking about his affiliation with the fake PAC. This article will be updated if he does respond.